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Saturday, 16 April 2011

SAFHS Conference 2011

The annual conference of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies (SAFHS) will take place on Saturday June 25th 2011 at Adam House, 3 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1HR.

Hosted by the Scottish Genealogy Society, this year’s theme is “Census, Church and City”, and amongst the speakers will be Richard Hunter (Edinburgh, Its Archives and Inhabitants), Dr. Tristram Clarke (Scottish Episcopal Church Records), Andrew Nicoll (Roman Catholic Records) and the Registrar General for Scotland, Duncan MacNiven (The 1911 Census).

The event runs from 09.30 to 16.30 and will be accompanied by a Family History Fair with many societies and vendors in attendance. For more information, and to book a place, see www.scotsgenealogy.com/Conference.aspx.

I went last year - trust me, if they let me in, they'll let anyone in! lol You just register as a delegate - still debating whether to go or not, York is on the same day, and I've been wanting to do that for a few years now. Very tempted to hear Tristram talk on Episcopalian records though...!

I can't attend sadly, though I'd also be interested in hearing the talk on Episcopalian records.

I've tried several times -unsuccesfully- to contact the St Philip's and St James' Episcopal Church in Edinburgh (previously known as St James, was first in Broughton Place, then in Goldenacre, now in Inverleith) regarding access to their baptismal records that, from what I've gathered, stretch back to 1820.Any ideas about how to get access?

D. J. Steel's "National Parish Registers of Scotland" from 1970 has the St James records noted as in the hands of the church still, stating there to be christening records from 1820-1854 only. The ScotlandsPeople Centre's episcopal holdings, listed at www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/pdf/church-episcopal.pdf, don't appear to hold copies, and I can't see them on the NAS/NRS or SCAN catalogues.

You could try the diocese above the parish and ask them to contact the parish on your behalf if they aren't responding to you? Or contact Tristram at NAS, he may well have had dealings with the church already on the records.

Edinburgh City Archives has log books from Edinburgh St James Episcopal School from 1890-1933 (GB236/SL205), not sure if they are of any help. Might also be worth trying Scottish Genealogy Society to see if it has any unpublished collections; there is nothing on the church listed in the index of the Scottish Genealogist magazine from 1953-2005.